This was a really fun book to read. VERY FUNNY! I wish there were more out there like this. I have always thought that Star Trek had the potential to be very funny.

Some of my favorite gags: Captian Picard is obligated by the honor of the emperor and is strong sense of diplomacy to eat food that has been buried in the ground for hundreds of years. It is disgusting but a rare delicacy. This is a running gag throughout the entire book.

I liked this book so much that I found the email addresses of the authors and sent them a note.

I said:

I was helping my dad move some old boxes to the attic the other day and I stumbled across your (and Greg Cox's) Star Trek The Next Generation novel "Dragon's Honor." So after 13 years I finally read it. I have always been a fan of positive feedback so I just wanted you to know that I really loved you book. I thought it was a fun story and most of all I loved the humor. I always loved the moments of humor in the TV show and wished there were more. I thought it was so funny when Riker won the whole planet and the running gag (pun intended) with Picard and the disgusting food was hilarious! I also really liked Worf's encounter with the Imperial Minister of Internal Security. It was hard to explain to my wife why I was laughing so hard at a Star Trek book. I read in Jeff Ayers book "Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion" that your initial goal was a Next Generation version of John M. Ford's "How Much For Just the Planet." Having read Ford's novel as well I would just like to say that I think you met your goal, especially in the humor department.
Anyway just wanted to say thanks for the fun novel, I really enjoyed it.

I was thrilled when a few days later I got an email back from both Kij Johnson and Greg Cox.

Kij said:

Thanks, Gene! What a delight to hear from someone about the STTNG
book. I really enjoyed working on it, and I was really pleased with
it. Humor is hard, and writing the book gave me even more respect for
John M. Ford's accomplishment. I never hear about DRAGON'S HONOR these
days, but every so often someone brings a copy up at a signing, and
I'm always happy to see it.
I agree -- Poor Picard!
Anyway, thank you for dropping me a line. You're right -- positive
feedback is wonderful, and it doesn't happen often enough for most of
us. :-)
Kij

Then Greg wrote:

Thanks for your note. I admit that's not a book I get much fan mail for anymore. Good to know people are still reading it!
To give credit where it's due, the whole book was basically Kij's idea. In fact, it was originally supposed to be a solo novel, but real life (and a new job) got in the way of her deadlines so I helped her finish it on time, mostly as a favor for a friend. I still tend to think of it as Kij's book.
This may be more behind-the-scenes info than you wanted to know, but I'm glad to know that you enjoyed our "accidental" collaboration!
Best,
Greg


It was very exciting to recieve emails from the authors. I know it is pathetic but I was a little to star struck to write back. I doubt they will ever read this but if they do, thanks for the emails!

Anyway great book and I highly recommend it.

Catalyst of Sorrows

I know that Star Trek novels are not great literature and I don't expect too much from them. Most of the Star Trek novels I have read have been pretty good. This book had a lot of potential. Benjamin Sisko is on of my all time favorite characters in any story. And I liked the other mixture Dr. Crusher, Tuvok, Selar, McCoy and I think Romulans are cool. But the story started slow. And then it got a little slower. Then it jumped around a little bit. I was more than half way through the book and I still did not understand the purpose of the flashbacks and we weren't even close to coming to any kind of climax or resolution to the story. Nothing was happening. The story did not grab my attention and there were never any cliffhanger moments at the end of the chapters to keep me reading. It was unfortunate. I tried hard but I could not finish it. So unfortunately I do not recommend this book.

Reunion

Reunion
By: Michael Jan Friedman

This book was written way back in 1991 and I finally got around to reading it. Michael Jan Friedman in an interview with Jeff Ayres said, "At that point (back in 1991) you couldn't use anybody from anybody else's books. You couldn't use anybody you'd already used in your books. So I figured this was a onetime thing for ben Zoma and the Azmunds, and Simenon and Greyhorse and Pug, and it turned out otherwise." I was first introduced to these characters when I read the Stargazer novels. After I read those I figured out that this book had unintentionally started it all so I went to my vast Star Trek Novel Library and found that I owed the book and I read it.

There were a couple of things that I really liked about this book. Jack Crusher, the murder mystery and Simenon.

First, Jack Crusher. We always hear what a great guy Jack Crusher is, how brave he was and what a good friend he was and most of all that he died heroically in the line of duty. No we don't get to meet Jack personally, but we finally get to hear a detailed story about how exactly he died and personally I liked it. I thought it was fitting of all the hype and it was certainly heroic. I loved that Wesley got to hear the story from one of his father's friends. Someone out there should write the Jack Crusher chronicles, it would be a great series full of action adventure, true love, family and little boys falling out of trees. Sounds good to me.

The murder mystery was pretty good in this book. Star Trek books are fun because we get a little bit of everything, action adventure, sci fi and even a good murder mystery now and again. I didn't even know who the killer was until the last third of the book. It was fun.

I read a Star Trek book where one of the "guest" characters was basically a dolphin with a special suit who flew around the halls of the Enterprise. It was hard to connect with this character and I just didn't care very much about him. On the tv shows it is always hard for me to get attached to any of the characters that stray too far from the normal human look. Bajoran's have a little nose wrinkle and Vulcan's have pointed ears, even the Klingon's with their forehead ridges are not so bad. But when the tv show tries to do reptiles of some other non humanoid, like fish people or whatever the costumes get in the way, think about the Gorn in the original series. It's not that I am prejudice against non humanoids, I think that they have never been able to do them well. Simenon is some kind of reptile and the first non humanoid that I ever really felt like I was able to connect with. (This is a very nerdy subject) Michael Jan Friedman did a great job of making this character alien but likable. He was wise and he was nice to Wesley. This has helped me to give non humanoids a chance. And to not be so cold blooded.

This was a great character exploration/murder mystery and I recommend it to anyone who loves Jack Crusher.

Fallen Heroes

Fallen Heroes
By: Dafydd ab Hugh

Dafydd ab Hugh, in an interview with Jeff Ayers states that, "When my agent suggested I write a Trek novel, my first thought was how to subvert the universe. Since rule number one was that you could not kill off any of the main characters, I instantly began thinking of a book where I would kill all the main characters. In fact, I even suggested to then-Trek editor John Ordover that the back-cover copy should simply read 'Everybody dies.' Alas, Pocket wouldn't go for it!"

All of the numbered Star Trek novels I have read follow these rules. These books are nothing more than long episodes of the show where everything goes back to normal at the end of the episode. While Dafydd is compelled to follow these rules he also finds a way to subvert them. This story is dark, cryptic and rather intense but also refreshingly different from many of the numbered trek novels I have read.

I have read in Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion
by Jeff Ayers that John Ordover a former Star Trek editor at pocket books would often encourage authors to take full advantage of unlimited special effects budget that was available to them. They are only limited by what their imaginations can conceive. This is another area where Dayffdd excels in this novel. The battle scenes are intense and massive; the deaths are gruesome and Odo really uses his shape shifting ability to it's fullest potential.

I liked the fact that these alien invaders were unstoppable. Too often I read a novel or watch a Star Trek episode and no matter how formidable the enemy I know the intrepid crew will figure out how to beat them. This is not always a bad thing. It is fun sometimes to know that the heroes will prevail and to try and figure out how they will do it. While reading this novel I was waiting for the crew of Deep Space Nine to figure out a way to repel the invaders, when main characters started dropping like flies I began to understand that there was not going to be any happy ending for our heroes this time.

I liked the pairing of Quark and Odo and I especially liked all the cool things that Odo turned into, not to mention the abuse he took in the super heated station core.

This was definitely not a "feel good" novel, in fact there are some pretty heavy moments. I felt really bad for Jake and Molly. I took comfort in knowing that their tragic timeline would not last and that they would not remember the trauma the endured.

Overall though this is an enjoyable read, a great action adventure and a solid Science Fiction story I would recommend this book to any Star Trek fan with an open mind who enjoys a story that goes just a little bit against the grain

Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion

Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion
By: Jeff Ayers

I remember when dvd was starting to take over VHS. At first I was reluctant to make the transition but it turned out to be a good thing and a lot easier than I thought. One of my biggest beefs with the dvd was the special features. I thought they were pointless and a waste of time to make and watch. Then I watched some special features and it wasn't long before I was hooked. I quickly became a special feature addict.

That is why I love Voyages of Imagination it is the special features for all the books I am reading. It is fun to get an inside look into how the story came about and to get glimpses at the authors personalities and their individual creative process. Jeff has done an amazing job seeking out these authors with great success and getting good material to enhance the reading experience of any Star Trek novel.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves special features, or would like an easy to use reference guide to all their favorite Star Trek novels. As I post my reviews of the Star Trek novels that I have read you will see this book quoted often.